wine and cheese and…scalloped potatoes

December 12, 2011
somethin' on the side
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Last weekend I visited my best girlfriends from high school for a wine and cheese party. Though the wine is usually the shining star of the party, there are some requirements for the food:

1. It must contain cheese

2. It must be kick ass

And being that I had to travel for the party, my own personal requirement was that it had to be easy. Since I didn’t get to make scalloped potatoes for Thanksgiving (did I not post about my first Thanksgiving dinner? That will change…), I still had them on my mind.

Peel a few regular old potatoes and slice them up nice and thin with the help of a mandoline, if you have one. While this is going on, half and half should be steeping on the stove top with a smashed garlic clove, a few peppercorns and a bay leaf (strain and season well with salt before adding to the potatoes). Layer the potatoes in a pan and pour in the half and half. Top it all off with grated Gruyere cheese and cover the pan with foil. Bake in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and finish cooking until the liquid is absorbed and the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes more.

The scalloped potatoes were a hit, and so was the rest of the spread: grilled vegetables with truffle oil, penne alla vodka, bean dip, and crostini with goat cheese and marinated cherries. The pictures are terrible, the food was terrific, and now it’s just a memory–albeit, a fuzzy one.

cinnamon toast

December 6, 2011
ramblings, sweet thang, the main event
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One of the most comforting foods I’ve ever known is cinnamon toast. Growing up, my dad was the one to make my breakfast. Often it consisted of a Breakfast Hot Pocket, or a Toaster Strudel, but on a good day, my dad would make cinnamon toast. Last week, in an effort to ease my pre-midterm nerves, I whipped up a few slices:

My parents had made me a loaf of homemade white bread, which I toasted and then topped it with a generous smear of butter and a good sprinkling of sugar and pumpkin pie spice (though, as the name suggests, cinnamon is the more traditional route).

cookie butter rant

December 2, 2011
oh the things you'll see, ramblings, total exposure
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My friend posted about this stuff on Facebook and, though I’ve never heard about it before, I knew I had to get some. Immediately.

Not only am I completely enraged with my friend for making me aware of this goodness, but I am considering suing Trader Joe’s for the near-lethal quantity I have been consuming.

Cookie butter is the quintessential “eating in your underwear” food. I spoon this stuff down my throat, straight from the jar, in my underwear. I do not eat it in front of anyone.

sharpen your knives. now.

December 1, 2011
ramblings
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It is very likely that those knives in your kitchen aren’t sharp. I’m not judging you. In fact, only very recently have I purchased a whetstone and started sharpening my knives by hand.

As you are aware, last night I battled my way through my midterm. Now there was little I could do to prepare for the thing. Sure, I studied the recipes that we’d potentially be required to execute, but my skills were not going to hugely improve overnight. The only thing I could do that would make my job easier was to have the proper tools.

So there I was, in my kitchen, Tom Petty in the background, sharpening my knives just hours before the midterm. I got those knives scary sharp, which may not have made me a better cook, but did make the prep work less of a chore.

The point? Cooking is way more fun when you take care of your equipment, because, in turn, it’ll take care of you.